Virginia Carjacking Penalties

A carjacking offense is legally separate from auto theft crimes. Auto theft cases do not involve the driver’s presence in the car while it is being seized and immediate control is not being taken.

Carjacking involves violence towards the owner or the person who is in control of the car at the time. Virginia carjacking penalties may be considered harsher than auto theft offenses. Therefore, speaking with a capable carjacking attorney about your case can be beneficial to the outcome of your case.

What is the Difference of Carjacking from Joyriding?

The difference between carjacking and joyriding is that human element where someone is taking a car from somebody else’s immediate possession. In a joyriding scenario, someone is using a car without permission. Operating a vehicle without permission to do so as given by the owner of the vehicle is not the same thing as taking control from somebody without their consent and with the threat or force of violence.

Possible Consequences of Carjacking Charges?

The possible consequences of carjacking charges are, for a felony conviction, at least 15 years. There is a minimum of 15 years to life in prison. This is in a scenario where one can get that time suspended or they could potentially get some of that suspended. It is not a scenario where one would be able to walk out with just probation.

Felony Virginia carjacking penalties

The harshest penalty is life in prison. There are other kinds of consequences of felony convictions in Virginia, which are the loss of rights. If someone is a convicted felon, they do not have the right to vote anymore. They often do not qualify anymore for certain government assistance programs.

There are many jobs that the person cannot have because they are a convicted felon. These are situations that have many consequences for the person’s life, even beyond the jail time that carjacking would carry.

Impact of Prior Criminal Convictions for Carjacking Charges

Prior criminal convictions can impact a person. Depending on what the conviction is, Virginia carjacking penalties can completely ruin the person’s chances of getting a good offer from the prosecution or being able to negotiate this conviction to a lesser charge.

What is the Role of Virginia Sentencing Guidelines?

Virginia follows what is called the sentencing guideline. The sentencing guidelines take into consideration the person’s prior criminal record. Based on that, they assign the person points and potentially put that person in higher categories of sentencing, will require the judge to give that person more jail time.

Having a criminal history is going to hurt someone in a carjacking charge and would probably result in the person getting more than the minimum of 15 years as part of their sentence.

Help from a Defense Lawyer

A defense attorney would be able to negotiate with the prosecutor and bring mitigation and mitigating evidence into the Virginia carjacking penalties process.

Talking with an attorney about things that were going on in one’s life at the time, like if there is mental illness or other reasons, flaws, or weaknesses in the case, can be helpful.

All of these are things that a defense attorney can bring and potentially use on the person’s behalf to help convince the prosecutor to make an exception in the case and potentially get the case dropped down to something else.